In a process of manufacturing a semiconductor device, a substrate held by a substrate holder is received in a reaction furnace, and subjected to various kinds of substrate processing such as a deposition or an annealing. In a substrate processing apparatus for performing the process above, a substrate to be processed is transferred between the substrate holder and a substrate container by a substrate transfer device that is installed in the substrate processing apparatus in advance.
Conventionally, an operation (teaching) for determining a substrate transfer position in the substrate holder or the substrate container by the substrate transfer device has been conducted relying on an operator's senses. Specifically, in the conventional teaching method, when a transfer position in the substrate holder, for example, is to be determined, the operator manipulates the substrate transfer device while visually checking the clearance between the substrate and the substrate holder such that the substrate is transferred to a predetermined substrate loading position with respect to the substrate holder, thereby determining the transfer position. Therefore, the operation fluctuates depending on the operator's degree of skill, causing a problem that the teaching operation cannot be performed with a constant degree of precision for the respective devices and thus appropriate substrate processing cannot be performed.